Hwaseong Korean restaurant for family stone-plate pork: Hwadamga

Thursday is my child’s soccer-class day, so by the time class ends and we get home, it is past 7 p.m. Cooking a meal is not easy, so we usually eat out after soccer before heading home. Today, though, we spotted a pork barbecue restaurant while passing by and went in! My husband says he passes it on his way home from work, but this was our first time going all the way inside!

Hwadamga hours and parking

Hwadamga in Bongdam, Hwaseong, had such a lovely atmosphere right from the entrance. But it was definitely open, and when I went to park, the lights looked off? I wondered if I had seen it wrong and was about to turn around, when I spotted cars parked farther in! I turned back into the parking lot, and apparently the side that looked dark is the officeㅠㅠ It may look as though the lights are off, but they are not~~~ The office windows are tinted, that is all~~~

It is open daily from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., except for the 3–5 p.m. break, so do not be startled like I was—just head in~~!! There is plenty of parking right in front, so simply drive farther inside~~~

An interior divided into tables and private rooms

Inside, the table seating and room seating are separate~ The wood, lush green artificial plants, and rattan pendant lights with a real Southeast Asian feel make the interior so polished and pretty~~~ Hwadamga means “a place where warm stories stay,” apparently, and with the space divided so nicely, it is a really good place to bring the older members of the family for a gathering and a chat!

A self bar that makes eating with kids easy

At the self bar, stocked with refillable side dishes and extra sides, there are also kid-friendly quail eggs, japchae (stir-fried glass noodles), donggeurangttaeng (Korean pan-fried meat patties), and seaweed soup. Even if you have a little one who does not eat much of the main dish, this is such an easy place to get them fed! There are assorted seasoned vegetable sides for making bibimbap (mixed rice), and every table is set with sesame oil and gochujang (Korean red chili paste) too!

Next to the clean, well-kept self bar, you can see fresh meat being refrigerated! We arrived very late, so perhaps the restaurant had already been through one round of dinner guests and quite a few refill sides had run low. But I heard that vegetables such as caprese salad and minari (water celery) are prepared at the self bar too~!

Pre-grilled pork neck and pork belly on a stone plate

The kimchi and pickled sides that came as the basic spread were delicious too, with just the right fermentation and seasoning for eating with meat! We added the sides we had brought from the self bar for the kids as well!

The meat we ordered arrived pre-grilled like this. Because it had already been par-cooked once, it cooked quickly, which was great for cutting down the wait when eating with impatient children!

We ordered two portions of cubed pork neck, one portion of pork belly, steamed rice, and jjajang ramyeon (black bean sauce instant noodles). The kimchi, bracken fern, cabbage, green onion, mushrooms, and shishito peppers served with the meat were all such a good match for it!

Cabbage was actually a combination I had never grilled before, so I had left it untouched until the end. But it went so well with the meat that I thought, I should have eaten this sooner~!

Jjajang ramyeon topped with a fried egg!

The pork belly also arrived pre-grilled, so even when cut thick, it cooked in no time~! Meat grilled on a stone plate is hard to make anything but delicious, of course, but the meat quality was so good and the side dishes were tasty too. It was good enough to call Hwadamga a real Bongdam grilled-meat favorite!

Many other tables were having grilled fish too, so next time I thought I should try that..!! There are set menus combining grilled meat and seafood, which would make choosing easier for a meal with older family members as well!

• Pre-grilled Korean pork cubed neck (180 g) ₩18,000
• Pre-grilled Korean pork belly (180 g) ₩18,000
• Stone-plate Jjapagetti ₩5,000

With more than 20 kinds of sides at the self bar, and rice options including not only steamed rice but also Suhyangmi pot rice, is this not just perfect for a family gathering? There are set lunch menus too, so it looks even more affordable to visit at lunchtime!

And there are drinks and coffee ready for after you finish eating, so you can neatly take care of everything from the meal through dessert! Hwadamga, a Bongdam grilled-meat favorite that even the kids ate soooo happily! The quality meat grilled on the stone plate just melts in your mouth!